正確原文：
Yourprofessor has asked me to talk to you today about a topic that should be ofreal concern to civil engineers: the erosion of theUnited Statesbeaches. Let me startwith some statistics. Did you know that 90 percent of the coast in this countryis eroding? On theGulf of Mexicoforinstance, erosion averages 4 to 5 feet per year. Over the past twenty years,there has been an increase in building along the coast, even though geologistsand environmentalists have been warning communities about problems like erosion.Someway communities have tried to protect their buildings and roads and tobuild seawalls. However geologists have found that such stabilizing structuresactually speed up the destruction of beaches. These beaches with seawalls, calledstabilized beaches, are much narrower than beaches without them. You may wonderhow seawalls speed up beach loss. The explanation is simple. If the flow of abeach is gentle, the water energy is lessened as it washes up along the shore.It is reduced even more that returns to the sea so it doesn’t carry back muchsand. On the other hand, when the water hits the nearly vertical face of theseawall, it goes straight back to the sea with the full force of its energy andit carries back a great deal of sand. Because of the real risk of losingbeaches, many geologists support a ban on all types of stabilizing constructionon the shorelines.
生詞摘錄：
1. erosion: n. 腐蝕，侵蝕
2. statistics: n. 統(tǒng)計，統(tǒng)計數(shù)字，統(tǒng)計學
3. the Gulf of Mexico: 墨西哥海灣
4. average: v. 平均
5. geologist: n. 地質(zhì)學家
6. environmentalist:n. 環(huán)境保護論者，環(huán)境論者
7. someway: adv. 設(shè)法
8. seawall: n. 海塘（湖岸）
9. stabilize: v. 使堅固
10. lessen: v. 減少，減輕
11. vertical: adj. 垂直的
shoreline
: n. 海岸線
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